The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Lagerstroemia plant, commonly known as crape myrtle, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Bubble Tea’ or the “new plant.” ‘Bubble Tea’ is grown primarily as an ornamental for landscape use and for use as a potted plant and is the result of an ongoing breeding program to produce new and improved garden worthy plants for the ornamental market. The new plant was the result of open-pollinated seed collected by the inventor in fall of 2010 at a cultivated landscape in Raleigh, N.C., USA using ‘Whit VI’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,438 also known as ‘Burgundy Cotton’ as the seed or female parent. The male or pollen parent is unknown, but may have been any one of a number of hybrids or cultivars in the breeding area.
No plants of Lagerstroemia ‘Bubble Tea’ have been sold, in this country or anywhere in the world, prior to the filing of this application, nor has any disclosure of the new plant been made prior to the filing of this application with the exception of that which may have been disclosed or sold within one year of the filing of this application and was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor.
Lagerstroemia ‘Bubble Tea’ was initially asexually propagated by stem cuttings at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich., USA in 2012. The resultant plants from successive generations have demonstrated that the new plant has remained stable and true to type in multiple generations of asexual propagation.